New chamber manager taking 'baby steps'

Shuford optimistic about future

MOSES LAKE — Bev Shuford has been sitting in the manager's seat for about four months now, and she's been busy.

Shuford assumed the position of manager of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce in February from Karen Wagner, who retired after 28 years.

"Very busy," she said, adding she felt her experiences on the chamber board and as a business owner would prepare her for the job and what is being done in the office. A part she was less familiar with is her involvement on the Moses Lake and Grant County tourism commissions, and she loves it.

"It involves a lot of activities, and it's meeting a lot of new people, getting involved with their functions, their events," Shuford said. "I'm really enjoying that part."

As manager, Shuford's role is to handle the chamber's day-to-day functions, following under the rules and policies set by the chamber board.

While Shuford has implemented a few things, she didn't want to bring too much change in too quickly.

"I didn't want to upset the apple cart too much," she said. "Change is good, but familiarity helps a lot too."

The chamber newsletter has gone online, and Shuford hopes to see it become an everyday useful tool for business members to utilize. A new section in the newsletter will spotlight a different business each month.

Shuford will also continue Wagner's work in helping to create a visitor information center.

"We need to get better access for the public to get our brochures, see what's happening, events and all those things," she said, adding that brochure racks will be placed at different businesses around town. "These are small baby steps that we're taking to do this, but tourists don't just come on Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. So we need to have information out there."

The chamber office is now set up for wireless Internet, Shuford said, and further on down the road, she hopes to pursue signage and possibly address the difficulty of parking at the site.

In addition, the chamber's annual agricultural tour has been moved this year from the fall to July 18. Chamber members will go to Royal Ridge Fruit and B & G Farms to view the cherry operations and mint extraction processes, respectively. The chamber also plans to explore a business tour in the fall.

"With ethanol and biodiesel being so important right now, we're going to try to incorporate that," Shuford said. "We'll either have a tour, or a seminar or a session where businesses can come and hear about the upcoming (events)."

The chamber also offers Score counseling, a free confidential counselors service provided to new or existing businesses to talk strategy or receive advice, meeting with counseling the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the chamber office.

"With such a huge expansion in Moses Lake going on, we're getting tons of e-mails, people relocating, tons of telephone calls of what's happening," Shuford said, referring to the $600 million expansion project announced by REC Silicon in May. "We need to get the word out that this service is provided."

Shuford hopes that during her reign as manager, the chamber is user-friendly for members and information is readily available to the public to promote tourism. She added that her door is always open for feedback.

"I'm very optimistic," she said, extending kudos to the chamber staff and board of directors. "Moses Lake is really growing in leaps and bounds right now, so it's a wonderful time to be here."